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Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Congrats OSU Women

Over the weekend the OSU women opened their Big Ten season with a match against their rivals from the University of Michigan. According to the team's Facebook page, things went very well for the ladies:

Buckeyes open Big 10 play with a solid 50-14 win over the University of Michigan.The rookies took it to Michigan in the B game and just lost - our future is bright!The curtain-raiser match between Warsaw HS from Indiana versus St. Joe's Academy from Cleveland was exciting for the fans and family - what a wonderful day of rugby!UPDATE: "What has helped us was the tough games against York and us having some success against them," said Philip Payne, the OSU head coach. "We didn't panic if things were not going our way. In fact, we made a few mistakes right at the beginning of the game and U of Michigan scored first. We, then, came right back and took control of the game."

The OSU forwards took control of the match when they wore out the opposition and began dominating the set pieces throughout the match.

"We took away their strength," Payne said.

Brie Rahrig, the no. 8 for the Buckeyes did the bulk of the scoring for her team, though it was a full team effort overall. Other players that made an impact during the match were McKenna Cimperman, the OSU scrumhalf, who made life difficult for her opposite number all game and made damaging runs after finding unguarded space on the field. Prop, Katherine Crawford, physically dominated the other prop from Michigan and had her way with the scrums. Our Captain, Lindsay White, was at no. 12 and was a dominant player on the field. She was the best player at every phase of the match that day. She was usually the player that set up the tries for Brie and her teammates.

"I would also like to mention Clarissa Michaud at no. 10," he said. "A freshman who played at Danville Oaks High School in Northern California, she was cool and calm and has really made huge strides over the last month."

"I am excited about how are team is playing as a single unit in open play," he said. "Our forwards and backs were playing off of each other throughout the game and that put pressure and stress on U of M in their defense."

That pressure and teamwork put the Buckeyes in mismatches, with their backs running against the opposition forwards - a set-up that was heavily in favor of the Ohio-based side.